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NSA Scandal Goes Global: British Government Spied on G20 Delegates

More leaks from NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden show that government spying is not limited to the United States

– Sarah Lazare, staff writer

New revelations exposed Sunday show that British government hosts of the 2009 G20 summit spied on the internet and phone communications of foreign delegates and politicians and went so far as luring officials to fake internet cafes where their email and computer use was monitored.

(Photo: NSA Whistle Blower Edward Snowden/ABC News) The latest developments, exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and reported by The Guardian, comes as the G8 summit launches its first day of meetings, again hosted by the British government.

Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)—a close ally of the NSA—is coming under widespread criticism as the NSA spying scandal goes global.

The Guardian reveals broad and extensive spying on the 2009 G20 delegates, focusing on those from Turkey and South Africa, including:

• Setting up internet cafes where they used an email interception programme and key-logging software to spy on delegates’ use of computers;

• Penetrating the security on delegates’ BlackBerrys to monitor their email messages and phone calls;

• Supplying 45 analysts with a live round-the-clock summary of who was phoning who at the summit;

• Targeting the Turkish finance minister and possibly 15 others in his party;

• Receiving reports from an NSA attempt to eavesdrop on the Russian leader, Dmitry Medvedev, as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow.

President Obama has vowed to fiercely defend NSA spying to global superpowers at the upcoming summit. While the Obama Administration has received some blowback from European Union politicians, including last week’s note of concern about the NSA Prism spying program, the latest revelation shows the the spying scandal beyond the U.S. government extends.